“We are definitely responsible,” began Reja to Radio Lazio Style. “To concede five goals against Palermo is never easy for a team like Lazio.

“This is the great regret, but then it is useless to debate further, we must just turn the page.

“If we analyse the game specifically, we must say that in the first half we were punished by episodes.

“The first two goals came from two great shots from outside the penalty box and the third was caused by our carelessness.

“Then, they have created many opportunities, in consideration of the defence that I deployed.

“I just feel sorry for the second half, those goals could have been avoided. We did not do very well at defending, now we have to come out of this situation.”

The Coach reflected that despite the defeat, the team’s League standing did not take too much of a hit. They are currently level with third place Udinese on 42 points.

“There must be a response from the team, from a moral standpoint, because we kept up with third place and Udinese, now we need to recover some of the injured and we must remain calm from a psychological viewpoint. The whole team needs to believe again.”

Lazio did not have a day off despite the Sunday evening kick-off, as preparations are already underway for Thursday’s second leg Round of 32 Europa League clash with Atletico Madrid.

“Against Atletico I can only consider the players on the UEFA squad list and there will certainly be some changes.

“Then I also have to see how some players are, however, these are things to appraise in the next two days. I’ll try to put together a team to play this important game, then we will think again about the League.”